


The Void

by LilRegal92



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-10-22 06:05:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10691247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilRegal92/pseuds/LilRegal92
Summary: There's something strange about Emma's new place of employment.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The warnings listed may change as well as the title.

It was Emma’s first night at the testing facility. She and a team of other private security guards would be roaming the building, checking for anything suspicious. What that entailed exactly was going to be explained to her when she reported to her supervisor. Training was usually done at the headquarters, but for this particular assignment she would be doing all of her training on the job. The only difficult part of this would be trying to stay awake all night until the first shift got back in the morning.

She walked up to the front of the building and examined its appearance. The skyscraper had that government feel just by how high it towered and the revolving doors at the top of the large staircase. She’d been in Storybrooke for so long that she completely forgot just how large most buildings could be. Memories from New York hit her and she could recall walking by buildings that averaged around the same size. It was impressive considering Los Angeles’ twenty-three skyscrapers paled in comparison to New York’s two hundred and fifty-nine.

The blonde newcomer put her foot down on the first step and thought she felt electricity. The jolt made her uneasy at first, but she decided it was just her nerves getting the better of her and ascended the stairs. Maybe Regina’s numerous plights to stay in Storybrooke had freaked her out. In any case, she couldn’t just turn down the job. They were going to be paying her very well in comparison to similar occupations farther from their apartment. Regina had been given a generous amount of money to take a position as well as an assistant to some CEO downtown.

As she approached the revolving door she could see two security guards inside the lobby behind the front desk. To the left and right there were two separate halls with four elevators each. The two sets of elevators had a security guard stand in front of each as well, she noticed. Emma pushed her way through the revolving door and that’s when she realized there was a security guard on each side of the entrance as well. She knew this was a testing facility of some sort, but she’d never heard of this many bodies being set to the same post. Then again she was use to working alone, so maybe her years of solo work were showing.

Before she could get to the desk the younger, more fit of the two men stood up and smiled at her. His name tag read, Johnson. The older and fatter man remained in his seat until she got a bit closer to them. At that point she could see his name tag was nowhere in sight, but she offered him a smiled greeting as well.

“Hi, I’m here for-”

“You’re the new officer, right?” The younger man asked.

Emma was taken a bit aback, but tried to hide it as she looked at the two men, “Uh, yeah.”

The older gentleman struggled to bend down far enough and pick something up from under the desk. “These are for you,” He grunted as he set a pile of neatly folded uniforms on marble top.

“Thanks.”

The man replied, “No problem. I’m Tony.”

Emma nodded at him, “I’m Emma.”

“I’m Blake,” The younger man interjected cheerfully as he stuck out his hand.

The blonde reached out and shook it firmly, immediately getting Tony’s unexpected response, “Save it, Tiny. She’s one of them butch lesbians.”

“Excuse me?” Emma responded, not sure how exactly to react to what she just heard.

Tony put his hands on the armrests of his chair as he tried to carefully sit back down, having to squat for several seconds before falling back into his seat. Huffing to catch his breath, the man let out a wheeze and told her, “Don’t take it personally. I can tell by that handshake that you ain’t into men.”

Was she really going to let this stranger offend her so much that she quit before even reporting in? No. Emma took the compliment before walking by the desk and to the elevators on the right. She avoided making eye contact with the security guard standing between the two center elevators, but kept an eye on him out of her peripheral vision. He looked at her for a second before looking back in front at the elevators on the other side of the small hall.

The elevator dinged open and she stepped in, seeing that the button for her floor was already lit up. That’s weird. She was about to ask the guy she’d remained silent with if there was something wrong with the elevator she was on when the doors practically slammed shut and lift jolted into action. She watched as the number changed from one to two, from two to three, from three to four, and so on. It stopped at digged at her again as it arrived at the seventh floor. The doors slid open to reveal another section of elevators, but as she stepped out she noticed that nothing but darkness existed beyond the light that was on in the center of the tiled area.

She quickly spun back around to get inside just before the doors closed. It was then that she realized she didn’t even need to get off until floor eleven. It was unlike her to zone out like that. Even though she was aware of where she needed to go and that the floor it’d stopped at was incorrect, she still got off as if she meant to. Shaking her head, she turned and looked at her reflection in the chromed wall behind her to make sure she looked presentable one last time before meeting her boss.


	2. Chapter 2

“Secure, that’s all you need to worry about,” Supervising Officer Fergus said as he stood up and began to pace around his office.

The small room was placed in the back corner of the eleventh floor and the only windows were on the two walls that faced inside the officer’s work stations. The desks were lined up in a seven by seven grid and had a small aisle so you could walk between each desk comfortably. The room reminded her of a police precinct from one of the crime shows she and Regina liked to stay up and watch after Henry went to bed.

Even though the small lamps on each desk were turned on, that section of the room was a bit darker than the rest and gave off a haunting vibe with all the dark wood in the room and the fact that they were the only two to be seen other than the guards that were downstairs. There was a cubicle wall at the end of the section where the desks were that only extended as far as the work tables. The carpet, which looked as if it hadn’t been changed since a decade or two before the turn of the twentieth century, ended along the same line and met the large yellow and white splatter pattern linoleum that ran down to the elevators.

He looked out the window at the desks, pointed, and said, “You can pick any of the desks that don’t have a nameplate on them. I don’t really care about which one you choose, just make sure it’s empty.”

“Yessir,” Emma replied, watching him in her peripheral vision as he walked around to pace behind her.

“If you’re here while there’s still daylight out, make sure that your desk light is on once the sun goes down. If you see any lamps turned off, make sure to turn them on. As you can see it’s pretty dark up here and that presents a safety risk.”

Emma nodded in agreement. The request was odd, but she couldn’t afford to fuss about it and he did have a point. He continued listing off rules for her to follow and by the end of it she was ready to turn around and go home, but she still had more than half of her shift and a new partner to meet with. After being dismissed, the new security official made her way to the next level up for her guided tour with her new workmate.

Officer Mason was roughly the same height as Emma with jet black hair and sterling eyes. He began his introduction with a handshake, only giving his name after asking for hers. His voice was deeper than she expect based on his appearance, but that didn’t bother her all too much. Judging by the fact that he hadn’t made a pass at her yet, she assumed he’d come to the same conclusion as the big guy down stairs.

“Well, let’s get started,” He said, gesturing for her to follow. As they walked down the corridor Mason explained, “The levels we are in charge of securing are private offices and labs. We’re only allowed access into the rooms if necessary.”  
Emma interjected, “There must be more than labs and offices, I’m assuming.”

“I’m not allowed to discuss anything outside of what you’re here to do. Everything in this place is need to know and if there’s something you haven’t been told, then it’s likely that you’ll never know.”

“The less I know, the less I can say?”

“You got it,” He replied. “Now, while patrolling through levels one to twenty one all you are required to do is check that every door is locked and that there’s no suspicious activity.”

“Like what?”

“Anything. No one is allowed to be up here outside of business hours.”

“Okay,” Emma answered, still not sure what that meant.

They came to the only other intersecting hallway on that level and her turned to tell her, “Make sure to keep your eyes and ears open. This building is full of irreplaceable things and we can’t afford to lose any of them.”

“Them?”

Mason looked her dead in the eye, “If so much as light flickers, get on your radio and let us know.”

She knew he was trying to tell her something, there was more to what he was saying. His voice was void of anything that would give away whatever it was. The white around his eyes began to get irritated and he blinked, causing them to get even more red for a short amount of time. They stood in silence as she looked around and took the situation in. If everything in this place was of such high value, then that probably meant there were eyes and ears everywhere. 

Rather than push the subject Emma offered, “Shouldn’t we finish the walk through?”

He put her arm out and gestured for her to lead the way back the way they’d come. Glad to be moving on, she skipped into action and walked at a decent pace back to the elevators. She pushed the button and they stood in silence until the lift arrived. The second they got into the elevator Mason pushed the button to close the doors, almost in a panic.

“Are you okay?” Emma asked.

Mason gave her a smile, “Yeah, sorry. Force of habit.”

Emma simply smiled back. She wasn’t going to push him for any answers. His behavior made her feel a little less comfortable than she cared to acknowledge at the present moment. They ascended to the next level and the doors opened the reveal a hallway of flickering lights.

“Mason you said we’re supposed to report anything abnormal?” The blonde said as she took a small step back.

“Yep,” He said frozen in place.

“Is this a normal occurrence?”

“I’m not sure how to answer that.”

Emma shot a look at him, “What!”

Her partner quickly grabbed the radio clipped to his belt and called, “All available officers to the thirteenth floor. I repeat, all available officers to the thirteenth floor.”

He slammed the button to close the doors and Emma took a step back. For some unknown reason she felt incredibly unsafe in their current situation. She wanted to run and hide, but there was nowhere to run to, because the only light that wasn’t going batshit was the one above them. Almost as soon as the doors were half way closed, the lights on the other side cut out and the bulb illuminating the elevator started to dim.

“Shit. Shit. Shit.” Mason reached for his radio just in time for it to go dark.

The sound of someone moving around only a few feet in front of them caused her blood to run cold as she whispered, “Mason.”

“I hear it,” He answered.

“I thought no one was allowed up here after business hours?”

“They’re not.”

The dark abyss in front of her was so thick that she thought she could see someone standing just outside the elevator doors. There was no way anyone could actually be there. It had been quiet the entire time she was there. She never once heard the elevator moving while talking to her new supervisor or while she and her new partner were down on the twelfth floor. She narrowed her eyes and as a humanoid shape came into focus the lights all came back on and for a split second she thought she saw a girl standing there.

She jolted, but it happened so fast she wasn’t sure that she’d actually seen anything. The radio on Mason’s belt crackled and several voices come through, yelling at each other. Their names were both mentioned with several others, as well as various numbers that she figured were a code. The chatter was so chaotic that Mason couldn’t jump in to speak. Finally, he pushed a button on the top of his device and everything fell silent. She watched as he took a deep, calming breath.

“This is Mason,” He said as steadily as he could. “The lights on level thirteen are now out. The elevator has power again, but it’s stuck. Does someone want to come up here and help us out?”  
A single male voice replied, “Copy that, we’ve got responders in route to your location.”


	3. Chapter 3

Within minutes of the incident Emma and Mason were out of the elevator and helping the team of officers who came to their rescue clear the floor. She didn’t even know what she was looking for, just that they needed to make sure the area was “clear”. The power kept going out, so they all had to carry flashlights with them. Everyone, except Emma, had also been authorized to use lethal force if entirely necessary.

The amount of paperwork she would have to do at the end of her shift gave her a bit of a headache and she was doing her best to focus but she could barely get her thoughts straight with all the radio chatter going on and having to decipher everything on her own half the time. Mason was in his zone, which made it difficult for Emma to get the information they were practically yelling to each other.

“See anything?” Mason asked in a low voice.

She replied in a harsh whisper, “Like what? I’m still trying to wrap my brain around what I’m suppose to be doing. They handed me a flashlight and gun then told me to come run around in the dark. To top it all off everyone around here is acting like their life depends on us not finding anything, but I’m not supposed to shoot whatever it is we’re looking for? That’s not supposed to be here?”

Her partner nodded, “Yeah it sounds crazy, but trust me when I say that you’ll know if you find what we’re hoping isn’t here.”

“Trust you? I’ve known you maybe a couple of hours and all you’ve done is brought more questions for me.”

“Such as?”

“Such as what the hell are we doing?”

Suddenly the lights came back on and the sound of the backup generators stopped.. Whatever had been causing the glitch in the system worked itself out and the confirmation transmission came through only a few seconds later. Mason breathed a sigh of relief as he leaned back against the wall that was behind him. The smile told her that a sense of impending doom just magically up and left his body and she felt even more concerned. Why would he feel that happy about the power coming back on.

“Now? We’re going back downstairs to fill out a an entire team’s worth of reports.”

Emma was beginning to get annoyed with him dodging her questions. If he wasn’t going to answer them she’d ask their boss or the man who hired her. It took everything in her not to chew Mason out the short ride down to their desks. Through the windows that separated their work space from their boss’ office Emma and Mason could see the supervisor pacing the room while talking on his phone. They couldn’t hear him saying anything, but he didn’t look too thrilled. No doubt he was having to let his superiors know about the power going out. Instead of bugging him with questions, she took a seat at her desk just in time for Mason to plop a file folder with a stack of about twenty pages in front of her.

“What is this?” Emma asked.

“You’re first report young grasshopper.”

She rolled her eyes at the cheesy quote and opened the file to see a page asking for the name, badge number, and supervising officer of every single person involved with the incident. Her brain was about to explode from the stress that just looking at the page had induced. Rather than panic, Emma set it off to the side and flipped through the rest of the paper until she found the page that pertained to the actual incident. It was a letterhead that asked her to type out her report, print it, and add it to the folder.

“How are we supposed to type this up if we don’t have any computers at our desks?”

Mason chuckled, “Pull out the top drawer.”

Emma followed his instructions to find a laptop sitting inside her desk. She pulled it out and lifted the screen to find her name already on a user account and a password typed in. She clicked on the login button and the home screen popped up. Not wasting any time, she promptly opened the Word program and began typing away. The entire process took much longer than she expected and by the time she was done filling out all the necessary paperwork it was time for her to clock out.

“I take it I’ll see you again tonight?” She asked as she got up from her desk.

“Yep. Maybe we’ll actually be able to finish the tour of the building.”

Emma pulled out her phone and told him, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be able to find my way around in no time.”

He folded his laptop and put it away before telling her, “Well tomorrow night you’ll have the full experience of what it’s like to work here. At least for your area.”

She nodded in response, “Yeah. Should be fun.”

Mason opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by their supervisor. “Emma, I need to speak with you privately,” Fergus asked.

Of course he was firing her. First day on the job, shit goes bad, and now she was the one being fired for whoever dropped the ball since she was the team rookie. Not even clocked out and she wouldn’t be allowed to come back. Regina was going to love her for this when she got home. The stomach ache she’d been ignoring almost all day suddenly made itself more apparent as she stepped into the office and sat in the chair across in front of the desk.

Fergus had a massive stack of files on his desk and said, “Given the circumstances of what happened tonight some of the people in charge think it’s in the best interest of the company that you know what it is we do here, exactly.”

“Okay?” The blonde replied suspiciously.

Her commanding officer handed her the top file and said, “You’ll need to read through all of these. I’ll box them up and send them home with you. Do not let anyone else see what’s in these files. Not even your husband.”

“Wife.”

He stopped and stared at her, “Your wife’s name wouldn’t happen to be Regina, would it?”

Emma looked a little frightened, “Yes. Why?”

“Well then you won’t have to bother hiding anything from her. She’s the assistant to someone much higher up the chain of command. Chances are she’ll be given the same files as you at some point this week if she hasn’t already.” After seeing her bewildered face he added, “I’m going to level with you. In simple terms, this place is not what it looks like. We do a lot of testing here, but not everything we do is known to the rest of the world. Most of our staff doesn’t even know what we do.”

“Which is what?”

“Secure, contain, and protect things that shouldn’t be here.”

“Like what?”

He sighed, “There’s a large list, all of which are in the files. If something…” He chose his words carefully, “If something that isn’t supposed to be here finds it’s way in, it’s our job to hold onto it and study whatever it is.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s things that find their way into our reality through theirs. This facility is built on top of a void in the fabric of whatever our universe is made up of. If you want a better explanation you can ask one of the science nerds in the lower levels, but it’s basically a portal from one dimension or reality into ours. We have yet to discover how to access it from our end and travel through it, but based on what has visited us, I don’t think we ever will.”

She sat in her chair and looked at the seemingly endless stack of papers that she was supposed to take home and read. There was no way he could be serious about any of what he’d said. She talked herself into the idea that when she got home Regina would be there waiting for her to talk about dealing with a bratty CEO who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Even as she loaded the boxes into her car and drove away. It wasn’t until she put her key in the door of their family apartment that everything hit her. Upon finishing the unloading of her vehicle, Emma collapsed in her bed, closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Emma opened her eyes to find Regina laying on the other side of the bed, propped up reading something. It took her a minute to realize it was a file like the ones she’d been given. Keeping her gaze at the yellow folder, the blonde slowly rolled onto her back and moved into a comfortable sitting position. Was this real? She had to be dreaming, there was no way the last 24 hours had happened. Despite seeing what her wife was reading, she still refused to accept the fact that the government was covering up something this huge.

“How long was I out?” Emma asked as she blinked the sleep from her eyes.

“About 5 hours. You should try to get a bit more sleep. We both have a rather large amount of reading to do,” Regina insisted, “I’ve been reading through the first case for almost an hour and I still can’t figure this out.”

Emma leaned over to read the paper and asked, “How bad could it be?”

“Well, the first case file is of a document that apparently notifies the company of any new… interests.”

“What?”

“So these things come through this portal, the company ‘collects’ them, and then holds them so they can learn about everything coming through. Well, this item was the first thing found. It somehow appeared on the desk of one of the agents at the company.”

Emma’s eyes scanned the first page inside the file folder to confirm. Sure enough, the subject in question was a document that the company currently held in a briefcase that was locked in a safe. The location of the safe and the person who had originally found it were censored with a black bar across their name. The date of when it showed up had been blacked out as well, but judging by how old the building looked outside, it had to have been decades ago. Each person in charge of protecting the mystery document is required to write a report on it every hour, or as needed.

Before a new object made it way through this rip in the fabric of the universe, the document would describe what it was. It was unclear if that’s what created the portal and everything coming through it, if it was summoning the objects, or if it was just warning the reader. In any case, they didn’t want to risk its destruction and lose their only chance of knowing when potential danger was on it’s way.

“You’re going to be guarding stuff like this.” Regina stated as she stared at the report they were reading in disbelief.

Emma nodded, “I know.” She took in a deep breathe and let it out before responding, “So this is why they’re paying us to much.”

Regina nodded mindlessly as she looked at Emma and asked, “Are we in over our heads?”

“Of course we are.” The two women stared at each other before she continued, “But that’s not always a bad thing. Maybe we discover another way to travel to other planets? The curse for cancer might come through that portal one day. We never know.”

“How can you be so calm about this, Emma? What if something extremely dangerous comes through? We have a family that we need to protect.”

The blonde sat up and said, “We’ve faced danger before, this will just be a new challenge.”

Henry interrupted their conversation by yelling, “I’m home!”

His voice echoed all they way to their bedroom on the top level of their apartment and they made their way downstairs to greet him, leaving their reading behind. When you entered through the front door, you were greeted with a long hallway that had a large, pirate ship chandelier hung down at the end of the left hand wall. Dark wood floors and walls surrounded you for a wood seven feet before the wall to your left stopped and opened up to a kitchen, livingroom, and a spiral metal staircase between the two. The kitchen had anything a normal kitchen would, including an island that had four barstools lined up along one side and a sink on the other. Behind the barstools there was five feet of naturally lit space for you to walk across to the living space on the other side of the stairs. Their TV was set up on the only wall that didn’t have any windows and made up part of the bathroom. Tucked behind the stairs was a door that lead to a short hallway that had a single bathroom at the end.

The stairs Regina and Emma had walked down started in a spiral on the bottom level. It was only a half level, so it stopped on a landing where you would turn to the left and walk into the laundry room. It was a small area that was tucked behind the upper cabinets in the kitchen and was directly below the master bedroom. If you continued up the stairs, they straightened out and lead you up to the top level where the master bedroom sat in the corner above the laundry room, making it the first room you have to walk by. Henry’s room was above part of the kitchen and the bottom half of the stairs and was almost as large as the master. The bathroom Henry was able to lay claim to was down the end of the hall and sat over the livingroom.

As the young man made an appearance from the front hall, he set his backpack down on the counter and took a seat at the first stool. Emma walked over and put the kettle on one of the stove top burners while Regina got the hot chocolate powder and cinnamon from a cupboard and the spice rack. The three of them sat in silence as he processed his thoughts. He was clearly stressed about something, but neither of his mother's wanted to press the issue too much.

As the kettle began to screech a few minutes later, Regina took it off the stove and poured some hot water into a glass while Emma dumped the cocoa powder in and mixed it. Before placing it in front of her son she added whipped cream and sprinkled some cinnamon on the top. Henry smiled as he reached over to pick it up. It wasn’t the usually glowing, white toothed grin they wanted to see, but at least there appeared to be a small break in his misery.

“School that bad today?” Emma asked.

“Yeah,” He replied as he took a drink from the mug in front of him.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Not really.”

“Okay kid,” She responded as she walk around and kissed the top of his head.

Regina gave him a hug before following her wife into the living room and giving their son some space. When he was ready he would talk to them about it, but for now they’d just leave him be. Within the hour that he arrived home, Emma glanced over to see him working on homework and drinking his hot chocolate. She breathed a sigh of relief that he was focusing his energy on something else as she turned her attention to the television. Two more hours until she’d have to get ready to head back to work. It was going to be a long night tonight.


	5. Chapter 5

The elevator doors dinged open and Emma was greeted by noise, clatter, and a workplace full of people she’d never interacted with before. A group of them filed into the same lift that she was walking out of, as two people wearing the same uniform as she and the rest of the team walked ahead of her. The noise grew louder as she walked down the tile floor. Turning the corner, she was surprised as to just how many people were actually there. Two or three people around each desk were looking at various documents, yelling to one another from across the room, and there were was a consistent flow of foot traffic coming and going from behind the half wall that separated their work area from the hall.

Officer Mason came up, took her arm, and lead her into their boss’s office where the two of them closed the blinds and locked the door. Before she could make a joke about the situation her supervisor slid a file folder across the table. It had the number four thousand written on the tabline at the top and upon opening it all she could see was the image of two teenagers. One was a boy who looked to be around Henry’s age, the other was a girl who was probably in her early teens. Below the image the names Aurox and Shayne were typed in bold letters.

“Who are they?” She finally asked.

“We were hoping you could tell us,” Fergus replied.

She looked down at the photos, shrugged, and said, “I have no idea. I haven’t been able to get through all the files yet.”

Her patrol partner sighed as he leaned against the wall to her right hand side. Mason’s reaction to her comment was almost accusatory. Whatever was going on and she didn’t like it. The pair in the photos were total strangers to her and the fact that they seemed to be assuming she was lying to them about that got under her skin. She wasn’t even sure what was going on outside the room they were in or why they thought she knew these kids. It was likely that both of these were connected somehow, but she wasn’t quite sure. Just as she was about to start pressing them for answers, it hit her.

“How long ago did they come through?”

Mason stood up straight and replied, “Less than half an hour ago.”

She looked up, “You assessed them in less than half an hour?”

“Just enough to know that they’re not here to eat us.”

Emma looked at him, “Well that’s comforting.”

 

Her partner shrugged, “We’ve had nastier stuff come through.”

“So what do you know about them?” The blonde asked after studying the pictures a bit longer.

Fergus leaned forward and said, “We’re going to let you question them yourself.”

Her eyes widened slightly, “What? Why?”

“They asked for you,” Mason told her.

Now she was even more puzzled and needed to know what was going on. Before she could asked them any more questions, Fergus motioned for Mason to take her out of the office. Following instructions, he opened the door and she exited with him right behind her. After taking the lead they stopped in front of the elevators and waited for one to arrive. After it emptied and they got inside, Mason put his hand against a metal panel and she heard a locking mechanism activate.

“What are you doing?” Emma asked.

“Taking you to the sub side of the building.”

“The sub side?”

The elevator jolted to life and began descending while Mason explained, “The sub side is all underground. It’s where the containment facility is located, along with some other stuff.”

“Other stuff?”

“You’ll get to know the place better the longer you’re here.”

The gears above them came to a grinding halt as they reached a level that had no number assigned to it. When the doors opened they were greeted by a long, cement hallway that had a desk at the end of it. A nameplate with the name “Janice” sat in front of a red haired woman with the stereotypical eccentric makeup that would have been in fashion, had they traveled back in time a few decades. This Janice woman looked disinterested and unpleasant until she opened her mouth to speak.

“You’re the new gal?” She asked as she took hold of Emma’s hand.

“Yes.”

“Great. Can you hold out your index finger for me?”

Before she could follow the command the redhead pushed the four remaining fingers into a fist, pulled out an electronic pad that was connected to the computer she was using, and held Emma’s finger down on it. A dim light ran across and then back like a copy machine. What little warmth the light gave off helped calm her nerves. She was certain that the effect was due to how cold the hall was. The woman on the other side of the desk eased her grip long enough to type in a few numbers on her screen. Within a matter of seconds Emma was wearing a wristband that had a digital screen on it.

“What’s this for?” She asked.

The lady winked at her as she pressed a button, causing a wall panel to the right hand side of her desk to open and let in a bright light. Both of the officer’s squinted as they walked through and onto the other side. As her vision adjusted the newcomer could see another hall that mirrored the one they’d just come through, including the receptionist. The only difference was this hall was white and the receptionists name was Janine.

A ding sounded and the doors of the elevator at the end opened up. Mason motioned for her to follow him to their next ride. She looked from the elevator to her new bracelet, then back at the way they’d just come from. A day ago she didn’t even know what this place was for and now she was being lead into a top secret area with restricted access by a man she’d been partnered with on the only other shift she had worked. The situation sounded like the plot of a bad movie, but the kind that you’d want to watch just to see how it ended.

After stepping into the metal box, the doors closed and there were several mechanical sounds. One, two,... seven clicks and clanks later, a hum could be heard and Emma knew they were being lowered into the bowels of the facility. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Mason observing her. What was he looking for? Fear? She was plenty freaked out already. The last thing she wanted was to go in and talk to two young people who just stepped through a portal that let in alien objects and beings. Most of her time away from this place had been spent trying to wrap her head around her new job and exactly what this building was used for. Her amount of knowledge relating to this facility was very limited and that didn’t leave her with the most confident feeling in the world.

“You’ll be fine,” Mason told her, as if he had been reading her thoughts.

She smirked, “How do you know?”

“Because I was the one who talked to them. They’re a little rough around the edges, but they aren’t here to hurt us.”

Suddenly the elevator stopped and the clicks and clanks began again, telling her that they’d reached their destination. As the doors slid open she and Mason were greeted by several guards in full protective gear. They all kept quiet as they lead her down a series of halls. There were pictures hanging on either side as the group of guards pushed her and Mason to a random room. Once inside she realized they were standing in an observation area for a interrogation room Emma turned to look in at who she’d be questioning. The boy looked anxious, as if he had someplace else he needed to be.

“Where’s the girl?” Asked Emma.

Mason gestured behind them at a window she hadn’t noticed when they came in. “She’s a bit more talkative than her brother, but they’re both hiding something.”

The former small town sheriff left the observation room without saying anything to talk to the young man named Aurox. It was clear that being separated from his sister was getting to him. Closing the door behind her, Emma sat at the table across from the teen which seemed to settle him down. He looked at her with a look of desperation, but refused to be the first to speak. The look in his eyes told her that he wanted to talk, but there was something holding him back. Subtly, she turn her head a bit to signal that she was about to begin the interrogation.

“Aurox?” Emma started.

She tucked her hair behind her ears in preparation to ask questions, but then it occurred to her that she had no information on them. All she’d been given was a file with their names and pictures on the inside. Their reason for being here, where they came from , and who they really were was a total mystery to her.

“I’ll tell you what I told Mason. We’re not here to hurt anyone, we’re not here to collect any information, and we’re not here to stay. We came here to pass along some information to you, but my sister has to be the one to do it.”

“Why?”

“It’s just the way it has to be.”

The two of them looked at each other before Emma got up and made her way to where the sister was being kept. The girl seemed to be a bit more prepared to talk. The second they locked eyes Shayne looked at her as if she were looking at an old friend. A sense of familiarity swept into the room, even though Emma knew she’d never seen this person before.

“Don’t stop Henry.” Shayne told her

Adrenaline shot through Emma as her brain kicked into defence mode. “How do-”

“I can’t tell you how or why I know who Henry is. Just know that it’s not a threat. You can thank me for it later.”

Before Emma could say anything the girl disappeared. She spun around to look in the direction of the observation room. The door for the other interrogation area slammed shut and Mason came in, shaking his head to let Emma know Aurox wasn’t where she’d left him. Before she could ask any questions an alarm sounded and a voice came over the intercom announcing that there was a breech. Officer scoured the halls, looking into every room and possible hiding place. It all happened so fast that it took Emma a second or two to realize that Mason had sprinted off in the opposite direction they’d come in from.

Emma shot up and ran down the hall just in time to hear the same voice announce that the portal had activated and the duo they were looking for were stepping through it. Mason had already turned to run back in her direction when she stopped. Then it hit her. They hadn’t found a way to go through the portal. As far as they knew it was a one way thing. They had tried everything possible to use it as a way to send everything back, but their attempts had always been unsuccessful from what she’d been told. How was any of this possible?


End file.
